The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) yesterday sought clarification from the Federal Government concerning the recent ban on foreign exchange for importation of food items into the country.
The President of the MAN, Engineer Mansur Ahmed said this in Lagos during a media briefing on the 47th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the association.
The AGM which is slated in September has its theme as: “Improving value chain in the manufacturing sector for competitiveness and job creation"
The MAN boss urged the government to give clarification on which foods were banned for importation, even as he said the group was not opposed to government’s policy of reduction of foreign inputs in production.
“We believe that why there is need to start using local inputs, it cannot happen overnight,’’ Ahmed said.
He noted that both the small and medium scale enterprises and larger manufacturers need importation of products for their inputs in production.
According to him, denying them foreign exchange will affect competitiveness of the industry.
“One of the problems is that manufacturers have to import their products and when they stop foreign exchange supply to them, that will immediately affect their operations.
“It will also affect the cost of their production and possibly the price of the products,’’ Ahmed said.
The MAN boss also said that, with the signing of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) by President Muhammadu Buhari, export competitiveness will be determined by domestic input.
The association also said that it is partnering with the Raw Materials Research and Development Center (RMRDC) to see how it can close the leakages between different sub sectors to improve on backward integration.
He also said that the move will enable more manufacturers to build local inputs to improve their efficiency.
"And so, it will improve competitiveness and the ability of Nigeria to get value from the AFCFTA"
"Of course we have been working with the government on this for many years. Recently you may be aware that the backward integration policy of the government has actually been scaled up"
Mansur however acknowledged that the association has been advocating for backward integration in terms of people using local materials.
He however reiterated the need to improve on value chain adding that it is critical to improving the competitiveness of the manufacturing sector.
"Because one of the problems that have been raised now is that some manufacturers have to import their products and when you stop foreign exchange to them it will immediately affect their operations and possibly that of their prices. So one way to improve the chain is to ensure that you back on integrity"
Explaining further, he said, that it is not only Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) that depend on import of some materials even as he added that many manufactures also depend on importation of materials.
"That’s why part of our advocacy is to create large forms of fund, interaction and exchange of views and ideas"
He added that the association has been working with different other sub sectors to expand the value chain through backward integration.
"In many sectors the government has been working with operators and different sub sectors in the economy to expand the value chain by backward integration", he added.
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